Ancient Near Eastern Lamentation Literature forms the biggest coherent corpus of cuneiform literature. City-laments, Balangs, Erschemmas, Erschahungas and Schuilas all bewail the destruction of cities, the desecration of sanctuaries, death and starvation in the face of war in order to calm the wrath of the gods, who are seen as the force responsible for the destruction. This session aims to inform scholars from other branches of these valuable but up to now seldom noticed (at least outside of Ancient Near Eastern Studies) sources of the history of religion.